TIME TO STOP AND STARE

I loved staying at Fairly Lodge Farm Certified location site because my surroundings were so nice and I felt extremely safe, even though I was on my own for most of the time. One motorhome did appear for a couple of days but we just smiled at one another in passing and said hello a couple of times.

It continued to rain really hard most of the time and it sounded quite loud in the motorhome. But funnily enough this made me feel even more relaxed in my motorhome. Me all nice and warm, protecting myself against the the elements. 

 When the rain stopped the sun came out and it was glorious, if a bit nippy. But because I love being outdoors whenever possible I set up my little table and chair and wrapped up warm and sat outside writing up my blog and catching up on my Instagram posts. I have to say I am realising that it is a lot of work writing blogs and posting instagrams. And because I love going out to explore so much I am having to force myself to stay focused to try to keep up to date. Saying that I know I am weeks behind on my blogging. Part of that is for security so that I write them when I have left a place so that people don't actually know where I am camped up.

Once again I took to my electric bike to explore the areas around Covington and I have to say that the fact I had the electric battery helped me a great deal on the steep parts of the trip, it also enabled me to venture a lot further than I am sure I would have done with an ordinary bicycle. I know I would have got too tired peddling up the hills and turned back towards the motorhome. I cannot recommend electric bikes enough! And no it is not cheating. 

When I got back to the motorhome site there was just enough time to make myself a cuppa and sit outside and watch the beautiful sunset. When I was working I used to miss this time for reflection. I was always rushing around so much. It is fabulous being able to stop and stare and appreciate the beauty of nature. I am also very conscious that I want to challenge stereotypes of what it is to be a retired pensioner. I am getting increasingly angry with advertising agencies and marketing people depicting people over sixty as almost infirm with white and hair holding onto a stick to get around. That is certainly not me and not a lot of women over fifty and sixty and beyond. Many of us are grabbing life and running with it.

  I was born in the fifties and I am one of the WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) women who thought we would get our state pensions when we were sixty. The government did not give us enough time to prepare for the fact we will now not get it until we are sixty six. I had already decided years ago that I wanted to retire and travel around Great Britain in a motorhome at sixty. I would have made different lifestyle choices to prepare my finances better had I known I was not getting the state pension at sixty. And even though I am now having to do it on just my BBC Pension it is the best decision I have ever made. I have just had to be more sensible with money and tighten my shoestrings to enable me to stop and stare at things in life. I know not everyone can do this but I want to inspire those that are considering doing something like this to just go ahead and do it. There are good and bad days. But the good far outweigh the bad. I am really savouring all the experiences and emotions I am having. Something I did not really have time to do when I was working ten hour days and being a single mother for years. So I suppose you can say as well as challenging stereotypes this is catchup for me. 

Twenty minutes down the road from my Motorhome site is Grafham Water. My partner came to stay with me for a couple of days and we went off for a walk around the reservoir. It was opened in 1966 and was built to meet the demand from the New town of Milton Keynes and the rapid expansion of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire's existing towns.

It covers 600 hectares and holds 60,000,000 cubic meters of water and it has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific interest since 1989 and it has the most beautiful nature reserve.

It is a ten mile walk around the whole reservoir and we managed it in all the wind and rain. We even stopped off to do a bit of bird spotting, which is becoming one of my favourite things nowadays. Not that I know which one is which but I can enjoy the beauty of them. And enjoy being inside away from the wind and rain for a while!

It was a particularly bracing walking around the top of the reservoir and my face stung as the rain lashed down, we were nearly blown off our feet at times and I was soaked but we still managed to be smiling at the end of it!!

Thankfully the next day it was sunny and not a rain drop in sight. We went to explore Stanwick Lakes, which is a 750 acre nature reserve in the heart of Northamptonshire, made on the site of a former gravel pit.  It is part of the larger River Nene Regional Park.

It was so beautiful, if a bit wet and muddy underfoot because of the recent downpours. One section we literally had to wade through water. 

But again it was smiles all round when we had finished the walk.

I am loving the trip but I have to say when I am with my partner I realise it is so much more fulfilling experiencing new things with someone else. So as much as I like my solitude, I really enjoy the times we get together.